1.1 - Windows - Noun Types Window
You'll use the Noun Types Window when you want to work with a specific noun type.
There are three main areas in the Noun Types Window:
1) Noun Types Categories Drop-Down Menu
Noun Type Categories Drop-Down Menu
The Noun Type Categories Drop-Down Menu is the item directly below the label "Noun Type Categories" in the picture above.
The item reads "basic types" because the basic types category is selected.
There are two kinds of noun type categories: special and standard.
If you click and hold on the Noun Type Categories drop-down menu, and scroll to the top of the menu, you will see the three special categories: <all types>, <included in this model>, and <marked types>.
<all types>
When you choose the <all types> category, MindModel fills the Noun Types list with all the noun types in MindModel.
The <all types> category is useful when you want to add a noun to a model, but the noun type is not in the currently-selected noun type category.
For example, let's say you've selected the "basic types" category. There are 17 noun types in the "basic types" category, including activities, beverages, books, etc. When the "basic types" category is selected, only those 17 noun types will be included in the Noun Types List.
Let's say you want to add an "cd" noun to your model, to keep track of your cd collection. The "cd" noun type is not in the "basic types" category, so "cd" won't appear in the Noun Types List when the "basic types" category is selected.
There are about 165 noun types in MindModel, so we use noun type categories to keep the number of items in the Noun Types List to a more manageable number, usually between 10 and 20 items.
Select "<all types>" from the Noun Type Categories drop-down. MindModel responds by filling the Noun Types List with all the noun types, including "album".
You can then select "cd" in the Noun Types List, then click the "Add a CD" button below the Noun Types List to add an album to your model.
<included in this model>
As we saw in the section above, the "<all types>" category is useful when you need to add new nouns to your model.
The "<included in this model>" category is useful when you're browsing a model, and you need to see what types of nouns are included in that model.
Let's say you open a model that contains organizations, foods, and beverages. This model might be a database of restaurant information.
Since the model only contains three types of nouns, it's not helpful to have to look at the other 147 noun types.
Choose "<included in this model>" from the Noun Type Categories drop-down, and MindModel will fill the Noun Types List with three items: beverages, foods, and organizations (MindModel alphabetizes the list).
You can then double-click on any of those three types to fill the Nouns List (in the Model Window) with all the nouns of that type.
The "<included in this model>" category is a quick way to get an overview of a model that someone else created.
<marked types>
The "<marked types>" category allows you to create your own noun type categories.
To do so, start by selecting the "<all types>" category. MindModel fills the Noun Types List with all noun types.
Then shift-click (click while holding down the shift key on the keyboard) each of the noun types you want to include in your new category. Each time you shift-click an unmarked noun type, MindModel will mark the noun type by displaying it with a yellow highlight.
To unmark a noun type, shift-click on a noun type that is already marked.
Once you've marked all the noun types you wish to mark, choose "<marked types>" from the Noun Type Categories drop-down.
MindModel will respond by filling the Noun Types List with all the noun types you've marked.
Power-User Tip: It's often easiest to mark and unmark types in the "<all types>" category, but if you prefer, you can mark and unmark noun types in any other category as well.
Noun types you've marked stay marked even when you quit and re-open MindModel. They remain marked until you upgrade to a newer version of MindModel.
MindModel Multi-User: This note is for users of our multi-user product. The mark and unmark noun type commands are per user. So if one user marks a set of noun types, other users will not see these changes.
NOTE: You can use any noun type category at any time. They don't affect the data stored in your models. They only determine the set of noun types displayed in the Noun Types List at a given time. There are over 165 noun types in MindModel, so it's convenient to be able to work with smaller subsets of those types.
Standard Noun Type Categories
All the noun type categories except for the first three (<all types>, <included in this model>, <marked types>) are called standard noun type categories.
The standard noun type categories include: basic types, computer-related types, healthcare types, etc.
You can use any of these categories at any time. They are there to make using the Noun Types Window more convenient for you.
The Noun Types List is the list below the Noun Type Categories in the Noun Types Window.
The contents of the Noun Types List depend on which category you select in the Noun Type Categories drop-down.
You select a noun type in the Noun Types List to tell MindModel that you want to work with that specific noun type.
For example, let's say you want to add a person to your model. Select "people" in the Noun Types List. Once you've selected "people" the buttons at the bottom of the Noun Types Window change to read "Add a Person" and "Find All People".
Click the "Add a Person" button to add a person to your model. MindModel will allow you to enter name and contact information for the person.
Clicking the "Find All People" button will fill the Nouns List of the Model Window with all the people in the model.
The Noun Type buttons are the two buttons at the bottom of the Noun Types Window.
1) Add a Noun button
2) Find All Nouns button
These two buttons change depending on which noun type is selected in the Noun Types List.
For example, if "people" is selected in the Noun Types List, the two buttons will read "Add a Person" and "Find All People".
Add a Noun Button
The Add a Noun Button (in this case "Add a Person" button) has two parts:
The Button
The button will change depending on which
noun type is selected. In
our case, "person"
is selected, so the button is labelled "Add a Person".
Click the button to add a person. When you do, MindModel will display the Add/Edit Noun Form.
It's called a "form" because it looks somewhat like a paper form. It's called the "Add/Edit" form because you use the same form to add new nouns as you do to edit existing nouns.
If you want, you can use the standard forms to add or edit nouns. The picture above shows the standard form for people. There are different forms for other noun types, such as organizations, books, etc.
If you prefer, you can create your own customized forms.
A Note for Novice Computer Users
If you're a novice computer user, you'll probably want to skip down to the end of this section titled "Find All Nouns". The section on customizing forms may be more than you want to read right now.
Q. How do I create customized forms for adding or editing nouns?
MindModel has many features which allow you to customize the way you enter, search, browse, and report on information.
In order to allow you to tell MindModel how you want the information presented, we've had to develop a few different formats. We realize that it takes time for you to learn these formats, so we've tried to minimize the number of different formats you have to learn.
For this reason, some of the custom formats are shared by a number of different features.
The format for customizing the Add/Edit Noun form is called a "custom column view template", or CCVT for short.
It's called a "custom column view template" because it's also used to describe custom column views (CCV's).
To learn how to create custom column view templates (CCVT's), please refer to the section on the "File Menu: Import Custom Column View Template" command.
Q. I've created a CCVT. Now how do I tell MindModel to use it for editing a specific noun type?
Once you've created a custom column view template (CCVT), you need to import it using one of these two commands:
File Menu: Import Custom Column View Template from Excel
File Menu: Import Custom Column View Template from a Text File...
Once you've imported the CCVT, you can use the drop-down arrow to display a menu that allows you to select the CCVT.
Remember that the drop-down arrow is the small black triangle on the right side of the Add a Noun button.
The Drop-Down Arrow
Clicking the drop-down arrow causes MindModel to display a menu. The arrow is called a "drop-down arrow" because when you click it a menu drops down below the arrow.
The menu looks something like this.
The Drop-Down Menu
This menu has two parts, the top and the bottom, separated by a horizontal line.
The Top Part of the Drop-Down Menu
The top part (the top two items) are there to remind you what this menu does. The first item reminds you that the purpose of this menu is to allow you to choose a CCVT for adding or editing nouns. The second item reminds you to use the button to the left of the arrow to add nouns. The top part of this menu (the first two items) are just for you to read. You don't need to click them, and doing so has no effect.
The Bottom Part of the Drop-Down Menu
The bottom part of the drop-down menu (in this case, four items) allows you to choose a CCVT for adding or editing nouns of the selected type (in this case: people). By "selected type" we mean the noun type selected in the Noun Types List.
If you select "(no custom column view)", MindModel uses the standard form for adding or editing people.
If you select one of the bottom three items, MindModel uses the CCVT you selected for adding or editing people.
If This Makes No Sense at All
If this section (or any other part of MindModel) makes no sense at all, or you find yourself wasting too much time trying to figure something out, feel free to contact us. We'll help get you up and running as soon as possible. Once you see how it's done, you'll realize that it wasn't so complicated after all.
Find All Nouns
The Find All Nouns button changes depending on which noun type is selected in the Noun Types List.
Since "people" is the selected noun type in our example, the button will look like this:
When you click this button, MindModel fills the Nouns List of the Model Window with all people in the model.
Shortcut: A shortcut for the "Find All Nouns" button is to double-click a noun type in the Noun Types List. For example, double-clicking "people" in the Noun Types List fills the Nouns List with all the people in the model.